Martha McSally Speaks Out on Air Force ‘Interrogating’ Her Over Sexual Assault Claim: ‘I Was Mortified’

Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ) vented over how her sexual assault claim was handled during her time with the Air Force in an interview with CBS that aired Friday.

McSally revealed in a Senate Armed Services hearing this week that she was raped by a superior officer during her military service. As she spoke to Norah O’Donnell, McSally said she “didn’t even think about reporting” her assault because, with the environment at the time, “you kind of just suck it up.”

“I felt like I didn’t have any options at the time,” McSally said.

When O’Donnell asked McSally about who she spoke to in the military about her rape claim, the senator said that while she loves the Air Force and is proud to have served in the military, she was disgusted by how they handled her case. She said she was interrogated with aggressive questioning.

“I was mortified. If that’s the way you are treating being alerted that somebody has been through something like this who actually is trying to have our military succeed at dealing with it, and you bring me in and interrogate me as if I’m the perpetrator even in the tone, and the approach, and just the ignorance, they failed on the job big time. I got up and left. And I dropped a bunch of swear words just to be frank … I really felt like the system victimized me again.”